Chairs today are often equipped with an ottoman, or a split ottoman, that extends from the front of a chair to support a user's feet and lower legs. The split ottoman is extended from a stowed position, typically in a vertical orientation directly below the front edge of the seat, to an extended position, typically in a horizontal orientation extending outwardly from the front edge of the seat. The movement of the split ottoman is controlled by a linkage to move from the stowed position to the extended position. This linkage can be manually operated, or motorized, to move between the stowed and extended positions. As the linkage moves from the extended to the stowed position, there exists a possibility that some object may move into the path of the closing linkage. This can be problematic, especially on motorized mechanisms. What is needed is an ottoman or split ottoman linkage that provides some type of release mechanism to address a situation where the path of the linkage encounters an object creating an entrapment.